The visiting 49ers were trying to pull off the improbable—the near-impossible, even—and escape Davidson’s Belk Arena with a victory, and they needed their point guard to make good decisions with the game on the line. Henry delivered, in just about every way possible, and the 49ers wound up with a 73-69 victory to improve to 8-0 on the season.

“I thought he exhibited a lot of toughness and a lot of poise,” Charlotte coach Alan Major said. “The house was shaking, and he makes two free throws to ice the game. I’m really proud of him.”

Henry was involved in 11 of Charlotte’s final 13 points—he assisted on a bucket by Darion Clark and a 3-pointer by Chris Braswell, hit a clutch jumper with 27.2 seconds left and knocked down all four of his free throws in the final 1:14 to help seal the victory.

“I’ve put a lot of time in it,” Henry said. “My man right here (Braswell), he made his two (free throws with 3:06 left) after I told him we needed both of these. And he gave me both of them, and then he came up to me and was like, ‘We need both of these.’ It’s the love we have for each other and the faith and encouragement we give to each other.”

The 6-4, 200-pound Henry, who was heavily recruited by Marshall to play football, was a pain in Davidson’s side all game. He jumped into the fray in the paint and came up with eight rebounds—including two offensive boards. He initiated the Charlotte offense and came away with five assists. He finished with 11 points, and, in a hostile arena, committed just one turnover. He harassed the veteran Davidson backcourt of Nik Cochran and J.P. Kuhlman and came up with four steals.

“(Henry) plays great angles, he has long arms, and he enjoys playing defense,” Davidson coach Bob McKillop said. “He has the physical tools, but he also has the emotional desire. You combine those two ingredients, it makes it pretty lethal.”

Cochran and Kuhlman combined for nine turnovers—they were combining to average just 3.4 per game heading into Wednesday night’s game. And, though Henry was the catalyst to what McKillop termed a “frenetic nature of their defense,” he wasn’t the only one. Major’s team, which has more size and athleticism than in past years, was aggressive from the start. The 49ers forced Davidson’s hand on every possession.

“It completely disrupted our poise, in terms of running our system and it forced us into doing things that, I thought, were uncharacteristic,” McKillop said. “Instead of staying within the framework of what we do, we left our feet to make passes. We were out of position.”

That’s maybe the biggest compliment McKillop could give the Charlotte defense. His teams are always among the most fundamentally sound in the country, so for him to offer that there were several times when his players were out of position on set plays—because of that frenetic nature of the 49ers’ defense—is saying something.

The fact Charlotte is undefeated at this point of the season is somewhat stunning.

The 49ers were picked 12th in the Atlantic 10 preseason media poll but now own a Great Alaska Shootout championship and this win over a good Davidson team. And the way they’ve gone about rolling up this undefeated record is even more stunning.

Charlotte’s top scorer, Braswell, is averaging 15.1 points per game but doesn’t start. Neither does junior DeMario Mayfield, who is averaging 9.2. Both were suspended early in the season and have come off the bench since being reinstated—and that might not change anytime soon. At 8-0, why would it?

Instead, Major starts three freshmen—forwards Clark and Willie Clayton and guard Denzel Ingram—and a pair of sophomores, Henry and guard Terrence Williams.

“There are 347 Division I schools, and of the other 346, you’d probably have those two guys (Braswell and Mayfield) in the coach’s office every day wondering what’s the deal? What about me, what about me?” Major said. “These guys have not said a peep. They’ve practiced hard every day, they’ve brought great effort, they’ve brought tremendous attitude. There’s no secret why we’re in the position we’re in. When your upperclassmen have become givers, and become unselfish like that, it gets infectious.”